why do people feel the need to buy expensive cable

Had expensive, had less expensive. 
Belden 1694a and lc-1 have been the very best quality, sound, price cable I have ever owned.  And you can use that extra money for more music, or another preamp, speakers if you want. 

Dont drink the oil 

System dependent.  If you have great components and sources. You should get quality cabling. It depends on what you like. I have a system that consists of that I have 35k in components and speakers retail.  I have about 7k retail in cabling and power cords.  I’m extremley happy with my system.  Cheap cabling didn’t work for me.  I’m extermley happy and I’m done. All I do is look for music now.  Do what works for you. If you have a system that’s not resolving and transparent then cabling is less of a factor. 

32k system here . $400 in cables . Do what you have to do . 

Anyone hear of a big name system audiophile that did a blind test with Monster cable and his $20k Transparent Audio Opus ? This was done on the AVS forum website . He picked his cables 3 times out of 7 tries . The other 4 he picked the Monster cable .

Well to each his own. I use clarity Cable interconnect and power cords  , atlas mavros speaker cables. One high fidelity power cord. Works fine for me to each his own.